Pearce warns NMGOP: Don't be hasty

New Mexico Rep. Steve Pearce is urging his state party to take a thoughtful, measured approach to selecting a candidate for U.S. Senate in order to "seize the moment" and avoid the mistakes of 2008.

In an e-mail message Wednesday, Pearce warns against making a "hasty" decision and recommends that the tea party be included in the process "to select a conservative candidate who can pull that valuable block of voters to the polls."

Pearce shared his conversations with party leaders which he says has taken place over the past two days:

"The prevailing opinion is that party leaders throughout the state need to come together and evaluate the race and take steps to avoid a repeat of the 2008 Senate race where both the candidates and the party were bruised and out of money at the end of the primary and we had no national Republican representatives. It needs to be a full and open process to represent New Mexico. Although my name has been suggested as being on a short list of Republicans with statewide name ID, it is quite possible that a completely new face would be suggested in such a process.

I have agreed to the discussion and hope all other potential Republican candidates will do the same. In addition, the Tea Party is a strong force in Conservative politics that must be considered. They succeeded in defeating many incumbent Republican candidates during this last election cycle. With such a strong showing, my friends in the Tea Party should be included in the process to select a Conservative candidate who can pull that valuable block of voters to the polls. We must measure the playing field, choose our best candidate and seize the moment to present a unified message to win the US Senate seat in 2012 but we do not need to be hasty in this decision."